The Department of Education and Skills (DES) provides additional educational resources for pupils who are learning English as an additional language in primary and post-primary schools. The resources for schools with pupils who need English as an additional language (EAL) support can be additional teachers or financial assistance.
From 2007 to September 2009, schools with more than 14 EAL students were entitled to additional temporary teachers on a sliding scale, ranging from 1 teacher for 14 or more EAL pupils to 6 teachers for schools with 121 or more students needing EAL support. In Budget 2009 the previous general limit of a maximum of 2 additional language support teachers per school was reinstated, along with alleviation measures for schools with large numbers of EAL pupils - see 'Levels of EAL support' below.
Full details of the resources available for EAL support are set out in DES circular 0015/2009.
The following full-time resources are available to provide EAL support to pupils:
| No of pupils requiring EAL support | Number of teachers |
| 14-30 | 1 |
| 31-90 | 2 |
Alleviation measures for schools with large numbers of EAL pupils
Up to 2 additional EAL teachers may be allocated as follows:
| No of pupils requiring EAL support | Number of teachers |
| 91-120* | 3 |
| 121 or more* | 4 |
*Pupils for the 3rd and subsequent EAL teachers are counted on the following basis:
Potential additional teachers by appeal
The following schools may make an appeal for a review of their allocation of EAL teachers:
Schools may apply for an additional year of EAL support but each pupil requiring EAL support must be assessed first – see ‘Assessment of language proficiency' below.
Primary schools with 3-13 non-English-speaking pupils are entitled to a grant to assist with funding a part-time teacher to teach English to these students. Post-primary schools with 3-13 non-English-speaking pupils are entitled to additional teaching hours. Schools with fewer than 3 non-English-speaking pupils are expected to provide for the needs of these children from the school’s own resources.
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has Primary and Post-Primary Assessment Kits on its website, which can be used to assess non-English-speaking pupils according to the following 4 levels:
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has published the following guidelines for schools: Intercultural Education in the Primary School (pdf) and Intercultural Education in the Post-Primary School (pdf).
The website of the English Language Support Programme has activities related to the Junior Certificate curriculum.